by The German team suffered its first defeat under coach Julian Nagelsmann against Turkey. It is a setback on the road to the European Championship on home soil in 2024.
Germany lost 2-3 (1-2) to Turkey on Saturday (18/11/2023) at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, which was sold out to 72,592 spectators. After the victory over the USA and the draw against Mexico, Nagelsmann lost for the first time as national coach in the third game. Kai Havertz and Niclas Füllkrug scored Germany’s goals, while Ferdi Kadioglu, Kenan Yildiz and Yusuf Sari scored for Turkey in penalties in front of tens of thousands of Turkish fans.
Yusuf Sari (M.) from Turkey celebrates his goal making it 3:2.
It’s a setback for the German team ahead of the European Championships at home in the summer of 2024; on Tuesday, the team will play against Austria, in Vienna. Since being eliminated from the preliminary round of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Germany have lost five of their ten games and won three of them. “As a team we had a good level of emotion”said Nagelsmann on the sports program. “We have to close the game in the first ten minutes. But the individual players didn’t always have the same level of emotion as the opponent. We have to improve because we don’t have time to waste.” The EURO 2024 groups will be drawn on December 2nd in Hamburg.
| Date | Adversary | Result |
|---|---|---|
|
March 25, 2023 |
Peru |
2:0 |
|
March 28, 2023 |
Belgium |
2:3 |
|
June 12, 2023 |
Ukraine |
3:3 |
|
June 16, 2023 |
Poland |
0:1 |
|
June 20, 2023 |
Colombia |
0:2 |
|
September 9, 2023 |
Japan |
1:4 |
|
September 12, 2023 |
France |
2:1 |
|
October 14, 2023 |
USA |
3:1 |
|
October 18, 2023 |
Mexico |
2:2 |
|
November 18, 2023 |
Türkiye |
2:3 |
|
November 21, 2023 |
Austria |
Germany takes early lead – but Turkey finds answers
“Especially in view of a big tournament, it is important to be stable,” said Julian Nagelsmann before the game on RTL. The national coach, who is expected to lead the team to the European Championship at home in 2024, surprised with an unusual move: Kai Havertz played at left-back. And the plan initially worked: Benjamin Henrichs launched Leroy Sané from the right, who with his pass hit the left-back in the penalty area – Havertz took the lead. An early goal initially seemed to confirm the good impressions of the trip to the USA.
The German team was strong offensively, but made serious mistakes defensively. Turkey found adequate answers before the break. Abdülkerim Bardakci advanced from the left, the German defense misjudged Ferdi Kadioglu, Kadioglu shot hard at goalkeeper Kevin Trapp (38th). Turkey, which had long ago qualified for the European Championship in Germany, continued to press and even took the lead: Once again, a long pass on the left side of the Turkish attack caused problems for the German team. Kenan Yildiz appeared free in front of Trapp and shot boldly into the right corner (45th + 2).
Ferdi Kadioglu celebrates the equalizer.
“We conceded three goals – again. It’s too much at this level”said Germany captain Ilkay Gündogan on the sports program. “We weren’t aggressive enough. We made it too easy for the Turks to pass the ball back and forth. Then you end up being too far behind – and of course that shouldn’t be our benchmark.”
Füllkrug draws, but Türkiye scores again
The German team also started the second half well and equalized shortly after the restart. Florian Wirtz shot deep into the Turkish field and found Niclas Füllkrug, who scored from twelve meters (49′).
Niclas Füllkrug celebrates scoring the equalizer against Turkey.
But Turkey remained powerful. Salih Özcan hit the post from 18 meters in the 52nd minute – and in the 69th minute the video assistant reported a potentially punishable hand ball to the referee; Kai Havertz had hit his arm while running. Polish referee Bartosz Frankowski awarded a penalty, Yusuf Sari fortunately converted to give Turkey another lead, goalkeeper Trapp was still there (71′). Yilmaz could have increased the score to 4-2 in the 82nd minute, but he didn’t score, as did Serge Gnabry, who narrowly missed a pass from Henrichs (86′). “Wanting this so much is important to us. I don’t think we were all 100 percent.”said Füllkrug on the sports program. “We didn’t reach Turkey’s emotional level in the first half.”
Turkish international Salih Özcan praised the atmosphere that provided a real home game for Turkey. “The meeting is always special, I think”Özcan said on the sports program. “We feel good, we take the fans with us, we enjoy it and it’s indescribably beautiful.”
The situation before the game was politically charged
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was in Germany on a state visit on Friday and Saturday, did not attend the game. Several demonstrations about the conflict in the Middle East and the situation of the Kurds in Turkey mainly involved police forces. A march of Turkish fans before the game was peaceful.
